Photo by Clarissa Aykroyd, 2016
Here's the latest in my very slow-to-appear series of translations of Rainer Maria Rilke's Rose poems, from French. The original is below the translation.
THE ROSES (Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Clarissa Aykroyd)
XVIII
You share all things that move us.
But we are unaware of your changes.
We could only read your pages
in the form of a hundred butterflies.
Some of you are like dictionaries;
those who pluck them
just want to re-read them.
As for me, I love rose-letters.
LES ROSES
XVIII
Tout ce qui nous émeut,
tu le partages.
Mais ce qui t’arrive,
nous l’ignorons.
Il faudrait être
cent papillons
pour lire toutes
tes pages.
Il y en a d’entre
vous qui sont comme des dictionnaires;
ceux qui les
cueillent
ont envie de faire
relier toutes ces feuilles.
Moi, j’aime les
roses épistolaires.
Translation © Clarissa Aykroyd, 2016
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